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Jakarta Post

Halim to serve scheduled commercial flights in January

Tow-the-line: A Phenom 300 jet aircraft, developed by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, is towed to a maintenance hall at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta

Nurfika Osman (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, November 21, 2013 Published on Nov. 21, 2013 Published on 2013-11-21T08:05:32+07:00

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Tow-the-line: A Phenom 300 jet aircraft, developed by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, is towed to a maintenance hall at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama) Tow-the-line: A Phenom 300 jet aircraft, developed by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, is towed to a maintenance hall at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama) (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

T

span class="caption" style="width: 510px;">Tow-the-line: A Phenom 300 jet aircraft, developed by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, is towed to a maintenance hall at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta will start accommodating scheduled commercial flight services next January to help ease congestion at the country'€™s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, to the west of Jakarta.

State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) II corporate secretary Daryanto said that all the support facilities for the new services, such as office space, tenants, check-in counters and parking lots, were almost completed.

'€œWe just need to wait for the slot-time schedule for carriers that will operate at Halim from the regulator,'€ Daryanto said on Wednesday, adding that the firm had spent Rp 6.8 billion (US$584,800) on
upgrading the airport.

He said national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia; the Lion Group'€™s low-cost airline, Lion Air, and full-service Batik Air; budget carrier Tigerair Mandala, and Citilink Indonesia planned to move some of their domestic flight services from Soekarno-Hatta to Halim in January.

'€œAlthough the total commercial slots we can provide to the airlines amount to only three flights per hour, this will still help reduce the congestion at Soekarno-Hatta,'€ he said.

Halim airport belongs to the Air Force and is used not only by the military but also by state officials and for chartered flights operated by ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation (Susi Air); Indonesia Air Transport; Premiair; Air Maleo; Nusantara Air Charter, and Transwisata Prima Aviation.

AP II has said it wanted to further expand the terminal and other facilities, as it aimed to use the airport for commercial purposes in the long run.

But Daryanto said the firm would first need to consult the Air Force '€” the airport'€™s owner.

Currently, Halim airport has a 3,000-meter runway and has capacity to handle 650,000 passengers each year.

Daryanto said AP II also planned to evenly distribute the flight schedules at Soekarno-Hatta airport, which it also manages, to reduce congestion.

He said flights departing between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and after 8 p.m. were less congested than those outside those hours.

Meanwhile, Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan said the ministry was completing the slot-time schedule for those airlines that would operate out of Halim airport.

He said the schedule was expected to be completed later this month, allowing airlines to inform their passengers about the routes that would be served there.

He also said the ministry was currently studying two locations near Soekarno-Hatta airport, namely Lebak and Teluk Naga, as potential sites for a new runway, to help distribute the massive amount of air traffic.

'€œWe are hoping to finish [the feasibility study] as soon as we can because air traffic at Soekarno-Hatta is expected to continue rising. We need more infrastructure to support that growth,'€ Bambang said.

Soekarno-Hatta airport, which was originally designed to accommodate 22 million passengers per year, recorded an average 1,125 flights per day carrying a total 54.7 million passengers through last year.

Bambang said it was crucial to build a third runway for the country'€™s main gateway at either Lebak or Teluk Naga, as it would be too expensive to build one within the airport complex.

AP II would need between Rp 3 trillion and Rp 4 trillion to clear land in the chosen area and construct the new runway.

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